Friday Giants lineup: Sandoval back in action and says he’ll be ready for opener

It’s Dan Brown filling in for Alex Pavlovic, who is spending his alleged day off writing Buster Posey stories. I’m the correspondent from the ballpark tonight. If you need me, I’m at dbrown@mercurynews.com or on Twitter at @mercbrownie.

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The biggest non-Buster Posey news of the day is that Pablo Sandoval (right elbow) is back in the lineup. He’s the DH tonight and hopes to make the case that he’s ready for Monday’s opening day at Dodger Stadium.

I asked Sandoval before the game if there was any doubt he’d be ready in time to face the Dodgers. “No,’’ he said emphatically. Sandoval, playing for the first time since March 16, said he was pain free after batting practice yesterday and was a “full go” in terms of cutting loose with his swing.

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Bruce Bochy was more cautious. The manager said Sandoval’s swing from the left side still merits a close look. Bochy also said Sandoval will need time before his throwing motion feels 100 percent.

(Side note: Home teams have the option of using the designated hitter in spring games, which is why Sandoval is the DH despite playing in a National League park.)

Here are tonight’s lineups for both teams:

A’s lineup

Crisp CF

Lowrie SS

Young RF

Cespedes LF

Donaldson 3B

Norris C

Freiman 1B

Smith DH

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Sizemore 2B

Griffin P

Giants lineup

Pagan CF

Scutaro 2B

Sandoval DH

Posey C

Pence RF

Belt 1B

Crawford SS

Blanco LF

Noonan 3B

Zito P

Notes

— Bochy said that Hector Sanchez (shoulder) went 1 for 3 with a home run and caught six innings in an extended spring training game today. “Looks like he could be a go,’’ the manager said.

— Shortstop Brandon Crawford has hit safely in his past 10 games, going 16 for 36 (.444) during that span.

— The Giants and Dodgers have met 29 times on opening day since 1900. The Giants hold a 15-14 edge.

Here’s hoping Sandoval’s elbow issues are *not* going to be issues for 2013!

Bapah

Doug, I think you meant both times that MLB.TV will have the game live, as well.

Zak

As much as Sandoval means to this LU, I personally cannot believe they wouldn’t consider letting him go back to his natural LH throwing and put him at 1B until he healed enough to go back to 3B. Belt in LF is obviously not ideal but there’s an argument Arias is as good as Blanco or Torres. We saw a switch pitching pitcher in the WBC, not remembering who exactly but thinking he was on an mlb farm team. As opposed to losing Pablo for an extended period if the damage was purely to the throwing motion, it would be a better alternative.

South City Jim

MLB musings…

Travis Blackley, who had a Spring that makes Lincecum’s look excellent by comparison, was DFA’d by A’s and they signed Dan Otero.

South City Jim

Oh yeah, Giants signed Proctor to Orioles for future considerations.

Piggyback Doug

Thanks Bapah. I didn’t, but good to know.

South City Jim

***Oops, Giants traded Proctor to Orioles for cash considerations.

Also, A’s DFA’d Daric Barton.

Piggyback Doug

MLB Network was what I meant 🙂

stickman

SCJ@5:53: Too bad SF could not keep Proctor too,but it’s very easy to see why he wouldn’t go to a pretty decent AL outfit rather than ride the Fresnobus waiting for the call. Worst case scenario would have been a total walk. Future considerations may or may not mean much but hella beat a good swift kick.

Wishing him luck while hoping SF picked the correct longman in Gaudin. Raggs and Gardner pretty much know their stuff when it comes to judging a pitcher’s stuff.

South City Jim

Stick, agree. At 36 I’m glad to see he’ll get a shot and not end up spending his last years in the minors like Kroon did.

I’d have no problem signing Blackley to a minor league deal. Not sure what happened to him this Spring but he was solid last year.

walt kovacs

blackley and barton cut

otero didnt spend too much time with yanks…he is now an athletic

Lefty

The news I saw said Proctor’s being sent to the Orioles’ AAA team. Too bad we didn’t keep him, I think–if he was going to be in the minors, why not Fresno?

Blackley wants an opportunity to be on a major league roster–don’t know if he’d accept an assignment to Fresno. But I’d like to have him back. It was a bummer we lost him in the first place, and we sure could have used him last year during Mota’s 100-day vacation (Shane Loux, Brad Penny, etc.).

Interested to see how Noonan does starting a game at AT & T!

South City Jim

Here’s an animal nickname for you. Noonan is one of the main characters in Caddyshack…how about “gopher”? Or maybe just “Noonan”. 🙂

Somehow the Giants marketing team needs to cash in on the Caddyshack theme.

efrain

@southcityjim – I think a nickname for the last guy on the roster is not a main concern right now or at any time. Try not to lose any sleep over it

Foothills Ryan says:
March 28th, 2013 at 8:42 pm
How does “dick” make it past the filters.

Oh, Dick Allen, Dick Williams, Dickie Thon…
——–

What about former Tiger Rusty Kuntz?

Numb Nuts

Damn Pablo is a fat ass

Numb Nuts

Pence hits a ball that should be a DP, then Belt and Craw SO. The more thing change, the more they stay the same.

Just wondering

Pablo isnt right … he took a first pitch fastball.

But seriously, the Giants offense isn’t right. Then again, maybe it is. We’ve grown used to that … not much there, and it doesnt seem to matter! They score — just enough — when it counts, and it doesn’t count YET

channelclemente

Hi Oh Silver, away.

Sam

With the All the signings today Intetesting to note that A-Rod who may not even play this season will make more than the Entire opening day roster of the Astros.

If Sandoval’s elbow turns out to be something significant, it’s going to be harder to argue that he isn’t injury prone. Changing the subject, compare Posey’s contract to Verlander’s. The Giants are paying $20 million less and getting one more year from a 26 year-old, everyday player? Verlander is great, but he’s also already thirty. The chances are good that his performance will have slipped by the final years of the contract. At the end of his deal, Posey will be 34 or 35. Smart teams lock up their young stars and end up paying for the player’s peak years, not overpaying an aging vet who’s already trending downward. The Giants are a smart team.

Anti-Lasorda

Surkamp is the other on the dl…..

? Is Belt 5th OF and do u want to carry 3 catchers?

ClutchUp

They could have retro’d Panda to a way back date by not playing tonite.

By playing now, a DL clock would restart.

Tks Anti, couldn’t think of Surkamp!

Mo p

Noonan has been very impressive with his opportunity. Pablo doesn’t look remotely ready despite what kuip said. Who is the catcher tomorrow? If cole is gone, maybe they do carry 3 catchers. Especially since they lack quality hitters on the bench.